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The second yr of the COVID-19 pandemic could also be more durable than the primary given how the brand new coronavirus is spreading, particularly within the northern hemisphere as extra infectious variants flow into, the World Health Organization (WHO) mentioned on Wednesday (13 January), write Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva and John Miller in Zurich.
“We are going into a second year of this, it could even be tougher given the transmission dynamics and some of the issues that we are seeing,” Mike Ryan, the WHO’s high emergencies official, mentioned throughout an occasion on social media.
The worldwide demise toll is approaching 2 million individuals because the pandemic started, with 91.5 million individuals contaminated.
The WHO, in its newest epidemiological replace issued in a single day, mentioned after two weeks of fewer instances being reported, some 5 million new instances have been reported final week, the doubtless results of a letdown of defences throughout the vacation season by which individuals – and the virus – got here collectively.
“Certainly in the northern hemisphere, particularly in Europe and North America we have seen that sort of perfect storm of the season – coldness, people going inside, increased social mixing and a combination of factors that have driven increased transmission in many, many countries,” Ryan mentioned.
Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO’s technical lead for COVID-19, warned: “After the holidays, in some countries the situation will get a lot worse before it gets better.”
Amid rising fears of the extra contagious coronavirus variant first detected in Britain however now entrenched worldwide, governments throughout Europe on Wednesday introduced tighter, longer coronavirus restrictions.
That contains home-office necessities and retailer closures in Switzerland, an prolonged Italian COVID-19 state of emergency, and German efforts to additional cut back contacts between individuals blamed for failed efforts, to date, to get the coronavirus underneath management.
“I worry that we will remain in this pattern of peak and trough and peak and trough, and we can do better,” Van Kerkhove mentioned.
She referred to as for sustaining bodily distancing, including: “The further, the better…but make sure that you keep that distance from people outside your immediate household.”
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